So I have been doing this for Arrow, so I thought I would continue doing it for The Flash since it is a direct spinoff.
Arrow Season 1 Part 1 and Part 2
Arrow Season 2 Part 1 and Part 2
SPOILER WARNING!
Iris West
Played by Candice Patton
In the comics, Iris West is the one-and-only of our protagonist Barry Allen. She is an interpid journalist finding all sorts of ways to get in trouble and give Barry moral guidance, not unlike Lois Lane. On the show, Iris is sort of a step-sister to Barry, which Barry has very strong romantic feelings for. After his mother was killed and father wrongfully imprisoned for it, her cop father, Joe, took him in.
Eobard Thawne
Played by Rick Cosnett
Eobard Thawne comes from the 25th century to wreak havoc on Flash’s life using a set of powers that are just like Barry’s. This version of Thawne is actually named Eddie and working for the Central City police. He is also dating Iris much to Barry’s chagrin. No evidence yet that he is a speedster from the future.
David Singh
Played by Patrick Sabongui
In the comics, Singh is the head of the crime lab that Barry works at during the day. In the show, he is actually a police captain, working as the boss for both Barry and his father figure, Joe. Both versions are real pieces of work who have little patience for Barry.
Clyde Mardon
Played by Chad Rook
Clyde Mardon is actually the brother of the usual Weather Wizard, but he is also the inventor of the tech that controls the weather. It was implied for a long time that he was killed by his brother over the tech and later confirmed in Final Crisis: Rogue’s Revenge. In the show, he is the first metahuman that Barry fights seemingly getting his gifts in the same accident that Flash did. I would expect his brother to eventually come back with a vengeance.
Detective Fred Chyre
Played by Al Sapienza
Fred Chrye was a no nonsense beat cop from Keystone City, the neighboring sister city of Central City. In the show, he is partnered with Joe West on the Weather Wizard case, but unfortunately he is wearing a “red shirt,” if you get my drift.
Count Vertigo
Played by Peter Stormare
There was a version of Count Vertigo that was a hipster drug dealer in the previous seasons of Arrow, but now that he is dead, a version of the character has come forward using the actual name of the character. He doesn’t seem like he is a dignitary from a foreign nation. He seems more like a Euro-trash wannabe gangster, but he is played by Stormare so that more than makes up for it.
Dr. Ray Palmer
Played by Brandon Routh
In the comics, Palmer was a scientist who harnessed a white dwarf star to power his size-changing suit. He is currently designing his own tech suit to help protect the city, and he is very interested with micro-technology. He is an affable, somewhat socially awkward techie business mogul. The minds behind the show have been candid that this was supposed to be Ted Kord, but I have a feeling Ted Kord’s rights are a mess right now (The minds behind the old Justice League cartoon had a similar excuse as the Arrow team for why Kord wasn’t included: “plans for him elsewhere.”) He pretty much is Ted Kord at the moment just with a different name.
Katana
Played by Rila Fukushima
A member of both the Justice League and The Outsiders, Tatsu Yamashiro became a sword-swinging vigilante after the death of her family. Her sword was the Soultaker that would literally absorb the soul of the people she killed. Thus far, she has mostly been Maseo’s (next entry) housewife. She often butted heads with Ollie who she saw as a freeloading threat to their happy home.
Maseo Yamashiro
Played by Karl Yune
Maseo is the husband of Katana. His soul currently resides in the Soultaker sword. He was killed by his brother, jealous that he won Katana’s affection. In the show’s flashbacks, he is in Amanda Waller’s employ and being blackmailed into mentoring Ollie for some black ops work (for some reason). In the present, he is a depressed member of the League of Assassins.
Simon Stagg
Played by William Sadler
Stagg is one of the many evil 1 percenters from the DC universe. He is most well-known for butting heads with the odd looking but pretty cool hero,Metamorpho. Unfortunately, Metamorpho is no where to be seen, and I wouldn’t expect Stagg to play to big a role going forward. Too bad, because Sadler is great in the role.
Mutiplex
Played by Michael Smith
Mutliplex was an assistant to nuclear physicist, Martin Stein, and got his powers to split from the same lab accident that created the hero Firestorm. I guess it makes it convenient that he was created on the show with the same accident that created Flash. He was a cloning expert working for Stagg when he gained the abilities to make doubles of himself. He looks pretty dead at the end of his episode.
Mr. Java
Played by Michasha Armstrong
This was a character I never thought would make it to film. Java was a thawed out caveman who worked as bodyguard to Simon Stagg. In the show, he is still a bodyguard, but he is a totally normal man. It was cool though when Multiplex called him Mr. Java.
Komodo
Played by Matt Lane
Simon Lacroix, aka Komodo, held a big place in Green Arrow’s New 52 mythos. He was a high ranking member of Queen Industries, trained to be an archer by Robert Queen, and a key member in Robert’s expedition to find the mystical totem weapon, The Green Arrow. None of this cool stuff is in “Arrow” though. He is just a League of Assassins member operating in Starling City and mistaken for Sarah Lance’s killer. Lame! Hope he comes back in a big bad way.
Mist
Played by Anthony Carrigan
The Mist started off as a scientist, Kyle Nimbus, who created a formula for invisibility that would work on both living and non-living things. Eventually, over use of the solution would actually grant him mist like powers. On “The Flash,” Kyle was scheduled to be executed by gas chamber during the particle accelerator. The energy burst gave him the ability to turn into a poisonous gas.
Ronnie Raymond
Played by Robbie Amell
Ronnie Raymond was a college student who joined an Anti-Nuclear Activist Group. When the group got violent, he tried to stop them. He ended up being tied up to Martin Stein, the scientist who created the facility. The explosion fused them together as Firestorm, a superhero who could rearrange atomic structures, which is a lot cooler than it sounds. “The Flash” repurposes Ronnie as an employee of Dr. Harrison Wells and one of the major contributors to the particle accelerator. He was also the fiancee of Team Flash member, Caitlin Snow. Long after being presumed dead, he turns up as a fiery hobo pleading with Caitlin not to go looking for him. He also seems to have more generic fire based powers rather than his usual complex power set.
Wildcat
Played by J. R. Ramirez
Ted Grant aka Wildcat was an aging boxer turned vigilante known for being one of the founding members of the Justice Society of America. Ted would go on to train many of DC Comics’ best fighters, most notably Black Canary to whom he was a father figure. He even gave Batman some boxing lessons. That is what he has been doing in the show so far, training Laurel to box. It is revealed later that he was once a costumed vigilante who retired after his sidekick killed someone.
Mark Shaw/Manhunter
Played by David Cubitt
There have been 8 different Manhunters in DC Comics, not including the martian one or the robot ones. Kate Spencer, the 8th one, has already appeared on Arrow. This one is Mark Shaw, who was originally a public defender turned vigilante, but in the new 52, he is a US Marshall. He has also been known as Privateer, Star-Tsar, and was almost a version of Azrael. He is much less flashy in “Arrow.” He is basically a runaway ARGUS agent that Team Arrow is asked to bring in by Diggle’s baby mama, Lyla.
Captain Cold
Played by Wentworth Miller
One of Flash’s most popular rivals and leader of The Rogues, Leonard Snart grew up with an abusive father. He split the first chance he got abandoning his kid sister with their awful dad. He eventually became a thief, and after a run in with the Flash, he stole the blueprints for a “cold gun.” Although his childhood hasn’t been explored, Cold’s story has remained mostly intact. The only difference is he stole an actual “cold gun” created by Cisco rather than the blueprints for one.
Ra’s al Ghul
Played by Matt Nable
Ra’s al Ghul (Arabic for Demon’s Head) is one of DC Comics most dangerous villains. He is a centuries old terrorist kept alive by the rejuvenating Lazarus Pits and leader of the League of Assassins. So far all we know is that he is dangerous and leads the League of Assassins. He fights Ollie to the death, so I’m sure one of the Pits is in our future.
Brother EYE
Played by Nolan Gerard Funk
Brother EYE was an artificially intelligent computer system created by Myron Forest and installed on an orbital satellite. It aided a few different heroes and villains. Buddy Blank interacted with it to become OMAC. Batman used it to keep tabs on the Justice League just in case any of them went dark side, and it was eventually hacked by Maxwell Lord to coordinate attacks on superhumans. “Arrow” retains Brother EYE as a computer program but takes away its A.I. Instead, it is used by Felicity Smoak’s college boyfriend, Cooper, who uses Brother Eye as an Orwellian screen name, to wreak some havoc on Starling. Myron Forest is even retained as the original programmer. He is Cooper’s college roommate who Cooper steals the program from.
Plastique
Played by Kelly Frye
Plastique started off as a terrorist bomber and Quebec separatist before a run in with Firestorm would compel her to get a superhuman make-over through genetic tampering turning her into a human bomb. Of course, in the show, the genetic tampering is changed to the particle accelerator which essentially preyed on her PTSD and the shrapnel embedded in her body that she received while serving in the military.
Gen. Wade Eiling
Played by Clancy Brown
General Eiling is one of the typical Army villains twisted by his duty into cutting corners to win. He was a proponent of experimenting on soldiers trying to create, perfect, and/or control superhumans. This is definitely his MO in the show and has a history with Dr. Wells in this area. In the comics, the general would successfully implant his brain into the body of Shaggy Man saving him from a terminal cancer diagnosis. I doubt this will happen, and from the sound of it, Clancy Brown doesn’t want it either.
Gorilla Grodd
There is a secret city in Africa where a group of hyper-intelligent, telepathic gorillas live. Gorilla Grodd is one of the most prominent. His thirst for power drove him outside of the city walls where he would eventually cross paths with the Flash. This Grodd has only cameoed so far. All we know is that he was a test subject of Dr. Wells and Gen. Eiling, but the two differed on what to do with him.
Cupid
Played by Amy Gumenick
Carrie Cutter was a special ops soldier, who, after being abandoned by her husband, volunteered for an experiment that would make her fearless. By extension, it also made her crazy. She tracked her husband to Star City to kill him. Ollie got involved thinking the man was the aggressor and giving Carrie the opening she needed to kill him. From then on, she was obsessed with Green Arrow carving a heart on her chest with one of his arrows and copycatting his whole motif. The TV series version is very similar. She was the first female SWAT member in Starling City before getting bounced for psychological issues. She was saved by Arrow during the Deathstroke army takeover in season 2 leading to the violent crush.
Girder
Played by Greg Finley
Tony Woodward was an iron worker. After sexually harassing a female co-worker and having the entire staff turn violent in response, he fell into a vat of molten steel. He emerged as a literal man of steel using his new found powers as a criminal and to creepily come on to his fellow female rogues. A lot of this made it to the TV show including the sexual predator angle with a few added tweaks. Instead of leftover STAR lab chemicals in the vat, it was the particle accelerator. Things didn’t turn violent at the steel mill due to sexual harassment but to lay offs. Tony could turn off his powers, and they added backstory about Tony being a childhood bully of Barry’s.
Captain Boomerang
Played by Nick Tarabay
Digger Harkness was a recurring rogue of the Flash’s. He started out as a mascot for a toy company pushing boomerangs. His Captain Boomerang motif was laughed at and the company went under. Harkness turned to crime using the mascot costume as a disguise. Eventually, he would join the ranks of the Suicide Squad. Here, Boomer is a mercenary and former Suicide Squadder who managed to disable the explosive in his head. He then targeted ARGUS agent, Lyla Michaels, much to Arrow’s chagrin.
Farooq
Played by Michael Reventar
Farooq was a villain known as Blackout. He had control over electricity and made his only appearances in the alternate timeline during Flashpoint, the event that ushered in the New 52. An interesting symmetry, Farooq created an alternate timeline when he sapped the Flash of his super speed evidenced when Dr. Wells’ future newspaper headline changes.
Chroma
Played by Paul Anthony
Also known as Rainbow Raider, he was a colorblind man who wished to be a great artist. His father gifted to him a pair of goggles that would fix his colorblindness. They would also allow him to shoot rainbow like energy blasts that would change people’s moods based on what color he would hit them with. Chroma basically has the same abilities but without the gaudy costume or detailed history. He was just a guy with powers.
Reverse Flash
Played by Tom Cavanaugh ???
In the comics, Barry had Eobard Thawne (mentioned above). Wally West, the third Flash and direct protege of Barry, had Hunter Zolomon, a criminal profiler paralyzed during a prison riot caused by Gorilla Grodd. He used Flash’s cosmic treadmill to stop that from happening, but instead, he was displaced in the timestream. His manipulation of time sort of looked like super-speed. It sort of sounds like Dr. Harrison Wells, the main brain behind the particle accelerator that caused metahumanism and pretends to be paralyzed after the whole project went wrong. Zolomon also believed he needed to be Wally West’s greatest villain so that Wally could become the greatest hero. That seems to line up with Wells’ motivations of caring for Barry.
